Previews

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

We get a chance to sit down and check out a long-awaited addition to the GTA universe: multiplayer!

Spiffy:

Finally, multiplayer is here; offers just about everything the single-player game does; numerous modes.

Iffy:

Online play would have been awesome... but we'll take what we can get!

For the most part, the titles in the Grand Theft Auto series have given players just about everything they could possibly want from a videogame. There's the colorful cast of characters you'll come across, the wide-open cities you can explore to your heart's content, and, of course, plenty of gratuitous violence thrown in for good measure. Yes, it's got something for everyone, although there's always been one notable omission: multiplayer. Sure, the last game featured some bare-bones two player minigames, but the franchise has largely offered only a single-player experience.

That's all about to change, however, with the imminent release of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for Sony's PSP. The handheld will offer a full blown multiplayer mode, as up to six people (the game supports Ad Hoc play only) will be able to do battle in a variety of different gametypes. Best of all, the developers didn't just make the multiplayer mode a neutered version of the single-player game.

Basically, the multiplayer side of things offers the same stuff you'll see in the main game. You'll be dropped onto one of Liberty City's three islands and given free reign to complete your objectives (or kill your enemies) in whatever manner you choose. Everything you'd expect to find in the single-player game will be included, from numerous vehicles to a bevy of weapons. You can also choose your multiplayer character from 60 members of the game's cast, although you'll have to play the game to unlock many of them.

As far as game modes go, we got a chance to check out a couple of them. The first one, called Liberty City Survivor, is essentially an every-man-for-himself deathmatch, although we were told that there will also be a team version available. When you're dropped into the game, your onscreen radar will show you which direction your enemies are coming from, as well as any nearby pickups or weapons. In addition to the wide range of guns at your disposal, you can also find powerups to help your cause, including Mega Damage and Radar Invisibility.

Another game mode, entitled Get Stretch, is similar to many games' Capture the Flag gametype. Rather than going for a flag, however, you'll need to steal your rivals' limousines and bring them back to your headquarters. Limos are also the objectives in the game's Protection Racket mode, which is basically a version of Assault. You're tasked with destroying your opponent's limos while on offense, and the tables are turned once you're done. Whoever does it faster is declared the winner.

If you're at all a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, you're going to love Liberty City Stories' multiplayer mode. It adds an amazing amount of replayability to an already deep game, while somehow managing to keep everything that's great about the single-player game intact. Now that the franchise has given us multiplayer, we've only got one more question to ask: when will get to play against our buddies online?